This site is a sort of museum in cyberspace full of odds and ends about life in Budleigh Salterton.
It celebrates among other things the connection between our corner of East Devon - birthplace of both Sir Walter Raleigh and Roger Conant, founder of Salem, Massachusetts - and the United States of America.
The site was inspired by the friendship link established in 2001 with the Cape Cod community of Brewster.

Saturday, 25 February 2012

A Friend of Fairlynch Museum has been delighted to learn
that a leading figure involved with human rights has again been honoured with her
artwork at a ceremony staged at her former Cambridge College.

Otterton-based
sculptor Angie Harlock, who left Clare College in 1974, feels that her bronze
figure 'Isadora, Joy', symbolic of the courage of dancer Isadora Duncan was an appropriate award when it was presented earlier this month
to Dr Alice Welbourn, pictured above with her husband Dr Nigel Padfield.

As
the founder of Stepping Stones, co-founder and chair of trustees for the Sophia
Forum and the Director of the Salamander Trust, Dr Welbourn, also a former
Clare student, has spent her career working to raise the profile of HIV
positive women from her base in Devon.

Dr
Welbourn accepted the title of Alumnus of the Year 2012 at the Cambridge ceremony. After studying Anthropology as a PhD student at
Clare College
she lived and worked in Somalia
for five years until in, 1989, the deteriorating security situation in Mogadishu forced her to move to Kenya. A year later, she returned
to England
with her two children.

In
1992, with no symptoms but as a result of a routine antenatal test, she
discovered she was HIV positive. At the time, when no treatment was yet
available, the diagnosis felt like a death sentence, made all the worse by not
being able to share her knowledge with others due to the stigma attached to it.

Using
her PhD research, she decided to create something positive out of adversity.
She went on to develop the Stepping Stones training package, designed to help
individuals and communities learn to cope with HIV, and later founded the
Sophia Forum and became Director of the Salamander Trust.

Other
recipients of the sculpture as Clare
College's Alumnus of the
Year include Stephen Jakobi OBE, founder of Fair Trials International and a
tireless campaigner against miscarriages of justice around the world.

to
see the pair of sculptures showing the "brave and inspirational"
dancer Isadora
Duncan (1878-1927) absorbed in dancing her instinctive and emotional style of free dance
which she performed tirelessly and taught to girls all over the world.

About Me

Born in 1946, in Birmingham UK, of Scottish-Irish parentage, and brought up as a Roman Catholic. Early education may have driven me into teaching, in the belief that schools should offer a more enjoyable experience for children. Studied French at London University, specialising in 16th century literature. Then came 34 years of teaching French, along with red herrings and common sense, at Oundle School, Northamptonshire. Published articles in Etudes Rabelaisiennes, (a long time ago), and a couple of books - one big 'Oundle's War' (1995) - and one small 'The Scientist in The Cottage' (2013) - a biography of Henry Carter FRS (1813-95). Dabbles, and some people say meddles, in many areas. A passionate gardener, moved to Devon partly to grow ericaceous plants more easily. Other interests include family, cycling, walking, photography, reading, music, studying butterflies, chopping wood, DIY, playing on the scaffold tower, and networking for the Greater Good. Married to Anthea for over 40 years. Three children: Emily, Simeon and Rosanna, three granddaughters and two Bengal cats. Like an increasing number of my friends of my generation, I'm a cancer survivor – I hope!